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View Full Version : Past Relocation of AT along Rollercoaster



ChimneySpring
04-11-2008, 10:15
Is anyone familiar with when and where the AT was relocated along the rollercoaster? I'm interested in what the route was prior to the move (it's my understanding it used to run closer to blue ridge mountain road before being moved some years ago). Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

jersey joe
04-11-2008, 10:21
No clue on your question, sorry...but hiking the rollercoaster was a fun day(17 hills totalling 5,000 feet of uphill)...Having Bear's Den Hostel at the end of it was a bonus though...those two pints of ben and jerry's ice cream didn't stand a chance!!!

Alligator
04-11-2008, 10:24
Good question. I received a shuttle a few months back from Tom Johnson, a former president of PATC. He was discussing the trail in general through that area. From what I remember, I think the way he explained it was that the former route was problematic with ownerships and that when the land came available with the current route it was better situated. However, I don't think it was known that the route would be so up and down, it was an unintended consequence.

He'd be the person to ask though if you don't get a more solid answer.

wilconow
04-11-2008, 10:47
I know it says in the guidebook that private land forced it off the ridge, but I guess you already know that

Also I think that one of the reasons that the Tuscarora (aka Big Blue) Trail was created was because they didn't think they could get any trail in that area

Lone Wolf
04-11-2008, 10:55
it used to follow Va. 605

ChimneySpring
04-11-2008, 14:06
LW, you mean 601 right? 605 is just a short E-W road that connects two N-W roads (601 - blue ridge mountain rd. - being the one at the top of the ridge that connects to 7 and 50 at opposite ends).

Interesting re: "private land forcing it off the ridge". I assume this must have been via transfer of ownership and new owners not wanting the trail up there? There's not been much in the way of development along 601 over the years. Funny thing is, you should hear how poorly some of the property owners who sold or had land acquired for the current easement corridor speak of the AT. I wonder if that was done via eminent domain or if it was actually purchased.

Just curious since I live so closeby. I'm also trying to determine the origin of some ruins and a spring that are on the edge of my property (hence my handle), but to no avail so far.

wilconow
04-11-2008, 14:49
contact the PATC.. I'm sure they can help you with info about the trail's history through there, maybe even the property history

Skyline
04-11-2008, 15:03
At one time the AT was a road walk along VA 601, paralleling (sort of) the current woods trail. As more homes (some of them McMansions) were built along VA 601, the trail moved to the woods. This was done by friendly agreement where possible, but it was not always possible.

In some places, locating the new woods trail was easy. In others, it required splitting a person's property in two. Those are probably the people who speak poorly of the AT.

Peaks
04-11-2008, 16:22
When we first hiked that section in about 1973, it was a road walk because land owners had forced the trail out of the woods and onto the road. But I don't know when it got relocated onto the current alignment.

fredmugs
05-06-2008, 10:55
Last year I stayed at Bears Den hostel. The person who gave me a shuttle one day told that he thru hiked in the 70s and at the time Blue Ridge Mtn Rd was a gravel road and the AT was a road walk. Once they started building the mansions on that road and paved it they re-routed the trail to where it is now.

Since you are in the area you might want to go over to the hostel and see what that guy knows. Sorry but I don't recall his name.

warren doyle
05-07-2008, 11:31
Yes. A classic case of 1980's ATC/NPS 'roadaphobia'.

Before this mid-1980's relocation in northern Virginia, there was a fairly pleasant roadwalk both on gravel and paved ridgeline roads (some unpassable by non-4 WD high-clearance vehicles) from Compton Gap (SNP) for most of the 32 miles north to right before the Devils Racecourse (2-3 miles north of Rt. 7-Snickers Gap).

I have many pleasant memories of the 1975, 1977, 1980 AT Circle Expedition members spending a day and half of 'dancing' down these roads while listening to the same radio station on our headphones - an indelible picture in my mind.

So now the section of trail from SNP to Harpers Ferry is my least favorite section of trail (from the ticks in the fields before and after Chester Gap to the 'inconsistent' rationale of putting the trail through Harpers Ferry rather than keeping it on the Sandy Hook Bridge, while also taking it out of the small trail town of Linden.

mudhead
05-07-2008, 11:52
I am suprised you listen to music while moving. No opinion, just suprised.

warren doyle
05-07-2008, 14:43
It was fun to boogie down the road with a group of people tuned in to the same radio station - "Hey Jude!" and "Funkytown" were quite memorable.

Descending deer-like down into Williamstown from Mt Prospect while enveloped in a majestic sunset and listening to a Beethoven symphony was another music/motion/hiking highlight.

Skyline
05-07-2008, 14:46
Yes. A classic case of 1980's ATC/NPS 'roadaphobia'.

Before this mid-1980's relocation in northern Virginia, there was a fairly pleasant roadwalk both on gravel and paved ridgeline roads (some unpassable by non-4 WD high-clearance vehicles) from Compton Gap (SNP) for most of the 32 miles north to right before the Devils Racecourse (2-3 miles north of Rt. 7-Snickers Gap).

I have many pleasant memories of the 1975, 1977, 1980 AT Circle Expedition members spending a day and half of 'dancing' down these roads while listening to the same radio station on our headphones - an indelible picture in my mind.

So now the section of trail from SNP to Harpers Ferry is my least favorite section of trail (from the ticks in the fields before and after Chester Gap to the 'inconsistent' rationale of putting the trail through Harpers Ferry rather than keeping it on the Sandy Hook Bridge, while also taking it out of the small trail town of Linden.


Good history of the AT's routings here.

Have you had the opportunity to do the Ovaka relo of the AT, west of Sky Meadows State Park yet? IMHO it helps make the otherwise mostly boring stretch between SNP and HF more bearable. It also has its roots in the original AT route, I think.

warren doyle
05-07-2008, 14:54
Good history of the AT's routings here.

Have you had the opportunity to do the Ovaka relo of the AT, west of Sky Meadows State Park yet? IMHO it helps make the otherwise mostly boring stretch between SNP and HF more bearable. It also has its roots in the original AT route, I think.

Yes, twice.

Landowners, like Ovaka, who could afford good lawyers were able to postpone the government taking/buying their land.

This was not true of the Appalachian small farmers in southwestern VA and along some of the NC/TN border who couldn't afford the same type of legal
counsel.

Blissful
05-07-2008, 15:26
The rollercoaster area is pretty boring. Glad we did it in autumn, much nicer.

Skyline
05-07-2008, 17:38
Yes, twice.

Landowners, like Ovaka, who could afford good lawyers were able to postpone the government taking/buying their land.

This was not true of the Appalachian small farmers in southwestern VA and along some of the NC/TN border who couldn't afford the same type of legal
counsel.


I thought the (more recent) AT routing through the Ovaka land was a friendly buyout involving PATC. No?

Skyline
05-07-2008, 17:41
The rollercoaster area is pretty boring. Glad we did it in autumn, much nicer.


Yeah, NOBOs generally wind up doing the rollercoaster during the heat and humidity of summer. A very different experience. Good thing Ben & Jerry are waiting for them at Bear's Den! :banana

warren doyle
05-07-2008, 19:43
I thought the (more recent) AT routing through the Ovaka land was a friendly buyout involving PATC. No?

In the late 1970's and 1980's, landowners who could afford good legal counsel, or had political connections, were able to hold onto their land until they were old, inform or dead and then their children/grandchildren would be more willing to sell it many years later. The Ovaka land purchase is an example of this type of timeline.

Meanwhile, the people like the Repass (Ceres) and Freeman/Kegley (Grioseclose) families felt forced to sell their land or have it taken through the governmental powers of eminent domain.

There has always been a 'dark side' to NPS/TVA land purchases. I saw this first-hand during the AT land acquisition process.

I wish someone could write a book or a dissertation on this piece of AT history while the principal players are still alive.

Alligator
05-07-2008, 20:25
That's downright criminal Warren that someone would take from a landowner in the name of the AT. These takings in the name of access to the AT should be denounced publicly.

Peaks
05-07-2008, 20:42
Does anyone else remember Mosby shelter, with yellow daffodils lining the path to the outhouse?

Blissful
05-07-2008, 22:08
That's downright criminal Warren that someone would take from a landowner in the name of the AT. These takings in the name of access to the AT should be denounced publicly.


What do you think happened to the mountaineers in Shenandoah NP? They were driven off their land to make room for the park and the trail. Though some were indeed squatters, others were not and still were basically told to leave and relocate to homes the govt created in the lowlands. The park did allow a few to remain in their homes until they died (like the man who owned Jones Mtn cabin which is now a PATC cabin rental). It's a sore spot to many in this area to this day.

Alligator
05-07-2008, 23:31
My statement is in agreement with your post Blissful. However, I was speaking to Warren not you.